The flavor/fragrance qualities of blueberries are greatly
dependent on the volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds
present both in the liquid matrix and the headspace aroma. There
is a concern in the blueberry industry as to what effect time of
storage and storage temperature have on the quality and flavor of
blueberry to the consumer. To date, very little research has been
done to compare the volatile organics in fresh fruit harvested
directly from the field versus frozen fruit that has been stored
for any length of time. The major volatiles of blueberries appear
to be useful indices for determining maturity, and recently, the
determination of flavor precursors and intermediates have become
the target of flavor studies, and by examining these compounds we
can determine what effect storage has on the quality and flavor
of blueberry. The purpose of this investigation is to develop an
analytical technique that could identify and compare a wide range
of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in blueberry
under different storage conditions. For this study, volatile
organic compounds were purged from blueberry samples followed by
trapping on Tenax® TA adsorbent resin using a dynamic purge and
trap technique. The adsorbent traps were subsequently analyzed by
thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(TD-GC-MS). The P&T technique permits the analysis of a wider
range of both volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds amd is
more sensitive than other techniques such as static headspace.
program.